Confessions to the Prat
by emily4498
Summary: During "The Witchfinder" Arthur hears Merlin use magic to save Morgana from Aredian. No slash.
**Confessions to the Prat by emily4498**

 _During "The Witchfinder" Arthur hears Merlin use magic to save Morgana from Aredian._

"Forbærnan!" Arthur glanced behind him at murmured word, only to see Merlin's eyes flash gold. Arthur blinked. A shout from Aredian tore the prince's attention away. The blade he held to Morgana's neck glowed with heat as the Witchfinder cast it away, stumbling backwards. The entire room watched with bated breath as Morgana pushed away from him. Aredian tripped and crashed through the window. Arthur rushed, watching the Witchfinder crash onto the cobblestones below. When he turned around, Merlin was helping Morgana to her feet as if nothing had happened.

Arthur growled and marched out of the room, grabbing Merlin by the back of his jacket to bring him along. He shoved Merlin into his private chambers and locked the door.

"I've always known you were an audacious idiot, Merlin, but this tops it all!"

"What's with the manhandling? I didn't even do anything this time!" The servant grumbled as he climbed to his feet.

"I heard you!"

"Pardon?"

"Forbærnan."

"Do you need me to get Gaius for that cough and potential hallucinations? Well, in this case it would be hearing thing, not quite hallucinations. Is there even a word for it?" Merlin asked, appearing the complete idiot, as usual. Arthur nearly second guessed himself.

"I don't have any cough or hallucinations! You used magic!"

"I know you're vain, but eye drops are going a bit too far, even for you! I'm sure Gaius has something that will get rid of the effects of the belladonna, just let me—" Merlin tried to push past Arthur, but the prince grabbed him by the arm and forced him to sit down in the nearest chair. Merlin stood straight back up and Arthur shoved him back down. Three times.

"Stop trying to distract me. I'm not a dog to be goaded."

"I always thought it to be more like poking a sleeping cat."

"MERLIN!"

"No need to shout, I'm three feet away from you!"

"SHUT UP, MERLIN!"

The servant fell quiet.

"Good. I saw you use magic, I'm not an idiot. You're a sorcerer." Arthur waited for a response. "Well, say something!"

"You told me to shut up, so I shut up."

"Did you use magic?"

"Arthur—"

"Answer the question, Merlin. Did you use magic?"

Merlin hesitated. "Yes," he answered firmly.

"You have magic."

"Yes."

"You're a sorcerer."

"Congratulations, you've finally noticed."

"You used magic, right in front of my father."

"Quite a few times, actually."

"You're still alive."

"Obviously."

"You've confessed. Multiple times and no one believed you."

"It's really not my fault that all of you are so thick."

"Why shouldn't I kill you, right now?"

"Because I've saved your life."

"With magic."

"Some of the time."

"I'll need a better reason than that."

"I'm entertaining?"

"I don't know what put that notion in your head—hey! No more changing the subject!"

"I didn't, you asked me to give you a reason not to turn me in to your father!"

Arthur fell into the nearest chair. "I hate you, Merlin."

"Does that mean I can go?"

"No."

"Er, why am I here?"

"I caught you using magic."

"Yes, yes you did."

"And you're not worried."

"Should I be?"

"How can you be so nonchalant?" Arthur demanded.

"Considering you don't seem very intent on turning me in, I really don't think I have much to worry about."

"How do you _know_ that?"

"Well, considering I just saved Morgana, I sincerely doubt you are going to throw me into the pyre, you're not that kind of person."

"It's _magic_ , Merlin!"

"I'm sure magic is a very big deal to you, Arthur, but I've been using magic for as long as I can remember, it's natural, it's really just another tool to me, like a shield or a pen or a medicine."

"Magic is evil!"

"No! Magic is no more evil than your blade or a fire."

Arthur gaped at Merlin's vehemence. "How do you _know_?"

Merlin looked at Arthur's chambers, which were quite messy from the lack of attention over the past few days. His eyes flashed gold and magic tidied the room in minutes, while Arthur watched, fascinated. Merlin picked up the sword from the table that Arthur damaged in training a few days before and laid it across his hands. A wordless spell later, the blade was whole and ready to be used. Merlin handed it to Arthur for inspection. "Magic is neither good nor evil. It's the person who good or bad."

"Normal sorcerers can't do all of that at once."

"No they cannot."

"How powerful are you?"

Marlin smirked. "Remember when we first met? You asked what I could do to you. Do you remember my response?"

"You said I had no idea."

"The second time I met you thought you could take me apart with one blow."

"I still can," Arthur snorted.

"I don't even need a word to defeat you."

"You're _Merlin_ , the clumsy idiot! How powerful could you possibly be?"

"You're the one with a sword. Do you want a rematch for all those times I haven't used magic when fighting you?"

Without warning, Arthur attacked, but before he could stand, Merlin's eyes flashed gold and the prince was dangling upside down, just out of reach of his target. The prince stiffened in shock as Merlin unceremoniously dropped him to the ground.

"Now, I think that is enough for today. You spend the rest of the night thinking on that while I go and read my magic book to see if I can find a spell that will give me a nice clean escape if you decide to be a total prat and tell the whole castle what I'm capable of."

"You didn't use any spells just now!"

"Moving things around is nothing. Spells help me with the more complicated stuff."

"But you can do any kind of magic without spells?"

"Theoretically. I suppose I could beg the druids to tell me how, but it's not like I can really practice magic in or near Camelot."

"You're in touch with other sorcerers!"

"The druids are peaceful. Unfortunately for me, I have to save your royal backside from almost all the others."

Arthur snorted in disbelief.

"That's what you say every time I manage something amazing."

"Please, you must be exaggerating."

"I certainly wish I was. Good night." Merlin marched out of the room and nearly ran back to Gaius's quarters to properly panic.

"GAIUS!" Merlin slammed the door to the quarters shut behind him. A tinkle of glass answered him.

"Was that really necessary, Merlin?"

"ArthurknowsIhavemagicandIthinkhedoesn'tcarebuthemightberunningofftoUtherrightnowandIneedtogo!"

Gaius just raised an eyebrow. "You know no one can understand you when you talk like that."

"Arthur knows I have magic and I think he doesn't care but he might be running off to Uther right now and I need to go!"

The eyebrow just stretched higher.

"MERLIN!" Arthur's voice rang through the castle.

Very briefly, Merlin wondered if Gaius's eyebrow would fly off his forehead.

"Why are you just standing there?"

"And how can I do anything, Merlin? I can barely stand right now."

"Right," Merlin conceded before running up to his room. He disappeared up the stairs as Arthur slammed open the door.

"Where's Merlin?"

"Sire, I have been free for all of a few minutes and Merlin is hard enough to find at the best of times!"

"Apologies, Gaius, may I go see if Merlin is in his room?"

Gaius flicked his fingers in permission and turned back to cleaning his ruined worktable. Arthur all but ran up to Merlin's room.

"By the dragon, Arthur! What are you doing here?" Gaius heard Merlin yelp before the door slammed shut.

"I'm not leaving this room, and neither are you until I get the answers I want."

"As if you could stop me."

"I am your prince."

"Tell me, since when have I actually listened to you?"

"Fair point, but you're still going to tell me everything."

"Why?"

"Because the only reason you would be anywhere near Camelot is if you were a) trying to take over or b) trying to bring back magic. So which is it?"

"Both, but not in the way you think."

"You're waiting for me to take over Camelot and hoping I would bring back magic."

"You're smarter than you look."

"Can we stop with the insults for a little while?"

"Where would the fun in that be?"

"Merlin!"

"What? It was fun having magic but now it's even more fun that you know and I can rub it in your face because you can't do a damn thing about it."

"I could tell my father."

"Uther doesn't scare me. I beat Nimueh, who was probably one the most powerful sorceress left of the Old Religion."

"How much do you know about the Old Religion?"

"Not much. No one really taught me magic, it's more like I'm figuring it out for myself."

"Are you sure magic isn't inherently bad?"

"Exhibit a) me. Exhibit b) the druids. Exhibit c) the dragons, though it is quite annoying. You normally only see the worst of magic when those who use it need to fight with it."

"You've fought with magic."

"A few times."

"So does that mean you can do 'evil' magic as well."

"If I wanted to, I could probably try, but the handful of times I tried to practice, it didn't work. Apparently, you can't do bad magic if you don't want to do bad things. Who knew?"

"Idiot."

"I thought you wanted to stop the insults!"

"I'm just saying it how I see it."

"Idle toad."

"Clotpole."

"What?"

"You're a clotpole."

"Now just because you have magic—"

"So now I have magic I can't call you a clotpole?"

"You can't call me a clotpole!"

"Prat."

"Merlin!"

"What?"

"You can't just insult me—"

"Well, considering I'm probably about to get banished, I don't think it really makes much of a difference."

"I'm not going to punish you for having magic, Merlin."

"Or kill me?"

"Or kill you."

"Or tell Uther?"

"Or tell my father."

"Or punish me in any way?"

"You will be punished for not telling me."

"Well, I'm off then. Have fun defending from all of the other sorcerers upset about your father's choices for the kingdom."

"How much have you actually done?"

"Do you want it all?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Get on with it."

"Okay, well, first I saved you from the sorceress who killed and impersonated the Lady Helen. Then I forced the knight Valiant's shield to show its true nature, and found out that it was enchanted to begin with. After that, I have half the credit for defeating the afanc by blowing the fire at it. Then I saved you from getting poisoned, but I suppose that doesn't count because Nimueh was trying to poison me instead, but afterwards, I helped you get the cure with the floating ball of light. I then enchanted the spear that Lancelot used to kill the griffin. I defeated the sorcerer Edwin who tried to take Gaius's position as physician and kill Uther."

Merlin smirked at the gobsmacked expression on Arthur's face.

"You didn't just up and try and elope with that Sophia girl, she put you under a spell and was going to sacrifice you in order to return to Avalon because she was actually a banished Sidhe so I stopped her."

"And the druid boy?"

"Well, I really didn't want to interfere in that one because apparently, that boy is destined to kill you, Arthur, but the boy kind-of guilt-tripped me into helping. The knight that came in that apparently no one could defeat was actually a wraith summoned by Nimueh. Basically anyone who faced it would die because no mortal weapon could kill it. I'm the one who got ahold of an immortal weapon that could. Unfortunately, that weapon was meant only for you to wield and then your father used it and I got into massive trouble for that but hey, you lived, so I succeeded in the end so it counts. Remember, I did tell you not to kill that unicorn and if you'd listened, the fiasco afterwards would have been avoided. I could have stood aside and let Morgana kill Uther after Gwen's father was killed and the sorcerer escaped, but I didn't so that ought to count for something. When you got poisoned by the Questing Beast, I was the one who went to that damnable island and got you cured, but she didn't adhere to the deal of my life for yours, so I went back, things happened and I eventually killed Nimueh, which your father totally owes me for."

"You killed Nimueh?"

"I'm pretty sure that's the second time I've said that. Yes, yes I did, ask Gaius, he was there. Anyways, there's more! I was the one who fought Cornelius Sigan and defeated him, so you can thank me for that. During that jousting tournament, someone tried to kill you, but I made him lose before he could. Oh, and since you don't really seem to mind my magic, you should know that Morgana has just found out that she has magic as well and you might want to offer to take her to visit with someone who can actually help her control it because I really can't do much to help her considering my magic is not very traditional. When we were rescuing Gwen, the falling chandelier was me, as well as the fact we weren't followed. I saved you from an arrow in the back and swords at your heels, I think it was an off-day."

"Alright! That's enough! I get the idea. You knock things over and get lucky."

"What can I possibly do to get some recognition around here?"

"Who else knows about your magic?"

"Promise me they won't get in trouble?"

"I promise."

"Well, Gaius knows, of course, it'd be kind-of hard to keep it from him after I saved his life with magic while I was trying to introduce myself."

"Who else?"

"Lancelot knows."

" _Lancelot_?"

"Yes. Unlike everyone else, he figured it out the first time I used magic in front of him."

"Because _Lancelot_ is so perfect."

"You don't have to be so bitter about it."

"Anyone else?"

"Well, the sorcerers I've faced know, but they're all dead. The druids know I have magic and call me Emrys. Not sure if they know my real name, but I suppose it still counts."

"At least my father doesn't know."

"And he never will if I have anything to say about it."

The two lapsed into silence.

"I knew it!" Arthur leapt to his feet.

"Knew what?"

"I knew you were hiding something!"

"Well, you didn't make it very hard to do. I've performed magic in your line of sight or range of hearing how many times?"

"Merlin?"

"Shut up, I know."

"Good. Now that I know you won't have any problem completing your chores, I can assign more. I want my chambers cleaned from floor to ceiling by tomorrow afternoon, as well as the stables mucked, my laundry done, my boots, all of them, shined, my armor polished—"

"Hold up, do you want your father to find out about my magic? I can't just do all my chores with it whenever I like! Ask Gaius, I never use magic for my chores!"

"Oh, and I want my saddle polished as well."

Merlin scowled.

"I can't very well treat you any different or my father will find out about your magic!"

"Prat."

"How about I make you a deal. You stop complaining after every statement I make and I'll start listening to your advice now I know you may have a bit more experience than me on some matters."

Merlin scowled. "You're still a dollophead."


End file.
